Crosswinds have played havoc at Queenstown Airport today when an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland turned back around and a Jetstar plane only landed successfully after two attempts.
JQ297 was scheduled to depart Auckland around 10.35am for the nearly two-hour flight to the South Island city, however, it suffered a near two-hour delay and departed Auckland at 12.16pm.
The flight finally landed at Queenstown Airport just after 2pm after making two loops around the city.
Passenger Barry Clifton told the Herald their flight had initially followed an Air New Zealand plane into Queenstown Airport.
“They did a go around and got down and took off again. He [the Jetstar pilot] said we will be doing the same.
“The pilot was pretty good and explained that the crosswinds were in different directions at different heights.
“He said they will give it another try, and if we get down we can, if we can’t we’ll go back to Auckland.”
Clifton said passengers erupted in applause when the pilot finally landed the plane.
“Everyone was so happy because nobody wanted to be turning around and going back to Auckland from Queenstown.”
However, Air New Zealand suffered a worse fate with four flights between Auckland and Queenstown today cancelled.
Chief operational integrity and safety officer Captain David Morgan said due to challenging crosswinds affecting Queenstown Airport, a number of its services were disrupted.
“Following multiple attempts at landing, flights NZ613, NZ635, NZ619, and NZ637 from Auckland to Queenstown were unable to land and returned to Auckland,” he said.
“As a consequence, flights NZ612, NZ616, NZ630 and NZ610 from Queenstown to Auckland were cancelled.
“Our airport and customer care teams are working hard to reaccommodate customers to get them to where they need to be; however, we note there is limited seat availability out of Queenstown for the rest of today and tomorrow.”
Clifton said the airport was full when they landed.
“From what I could understand, there were quite a few people who weren’t very happy because the plane they were just about to get on, was on its way back to Auckland.”
A Queenstown Airport spokesperson said the airport is open and flights have been landing and departing.
“However, crosswinds have been making things difficult for pilots and four flights (eight movements) have been cancelled today.
“Some passengers have been rebooked on other services today and others tomorrow.”
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